further act on the under part of the enamel. This ware should always be properly seasoned before use. Fill to the brim with boiling water, add a good allowance of soda and allow to get cool, then wash thoroughly in very hot soap suds. Enamelled metal ware should never be placed in the oven or on a stove, unless it contains a liquid or some fat, otherwise the enamel will crack.
Aluminium is a metal existing largely in clay. It is only within recent years that it has been able to be extracted economically and in sufficient quantities for commercial purposes. Its chief characteristics are its extreme lightness, its resistance to the action of most acids and atmospheric influences, and the ease with which it forms most useful alloys. In its natural condition it is of a dullish silver hue. Aluminium cooking and kitchen utensils are now either stamped out of sheet metal or moulded. Their extreme lightness makes stewpans, frying-pans and bain-maries of this metal most handy in the kitchen, and the fact that the juices of vegetables and fruits, etc., do not act upon it, gives aluminium a considerable advantage over copper. The metal heats quickly and retains its heat for a long time. It requires some care in cleaning. As yet aluminium kitchen ware is somewhat expensive, but when its merits are more widely recognized, and it comes into more general use, prices are likely to fall.
The Chafing Dish is a very ancient utensil, much used by our ancestors and then gradually neglected. But it has come into fashion again, largely through a revival of its use in America. The chafing dish is a deep metal pan, with sloping sides, and provided with a domed cover, which fits in the circular rim of a metal tripod. On the stand of the tripod beneath the dish a spirit lamp is placed. In some instances the dish is heated by electricity. As a rule these articles are highly ornamental, and are meant to be used on the table or sideboard; they are usually brought into requisition at breakfast, luncheon and supper, and are undoubtedly most serviceable in households where only a few servants are kept, as by their aid dainty little dishes such as fried or scrambled eggs, omelettes, stewed kidneys, broiled tomatoes, welch rarebit or cheese fondu, and similar preparations can be speedily prepared at the early morning meal, or at a late supper "after the theatre." For dwellers in flats the chafing dish is almost indispensable.
Complete List of Domestic Utensils.—Here we must bring our notices of utensils that find a place in most kitchens to a close, omitting many articles of less importance not likely to be called so frequently into use. Everything necessary for a family, whether large or small, is included in the following complete specifications of domestic utensils, which will show at a glance the articles required for the kitchens of families, ranging from those for whom a small cottage affords sufficient accommodation to those who have an income large enough to warrant the occupation of a mansion. For a mansion, whose many guests are ever coming and going, and where a large number of domestics are kept,
